Tragedy & Tears An Ezria Christmas
by bethanyjaynex
Summary: The Christmas season brings tragedy and tears for Aria and Ezra- but will their love conquer all?  OneShot; Please R&R xo


******Picture the scene- it's a cold December night, the 24****th**** to be exact. You're snuggled in front of the fire with your one true love, envisioning all the things that will happen in the future. You get up to refill your glass of mulled wine when, walking past the window on the way to the kitchen, you spot a lone man walking the streets. His coat is wrapped around him tightly to keep the cold air off his chest and he has his head lowered towards the snow-less pavement. You stop for a moment and observe him; you wonder why he's all alone on Christmas Eve, why he isn't with a loved one or his family. You can empathize with him, you know how horrible it is to be alone when you need someone most. You can still remember the feelings of loneliness and hopelessness as you wandered the desolate city streets. With one last glance at the unknown man, you leave the window and resume your delightful evening with no other thoughts about the feelings you once had. Unbeknownst to you, he's just had the worst day of his life. But you wouldn't know that, he's just a stranger to you.**

"Are you _sure_ you can't stay over?" Ezra Fitz stared longingly into his girlfriend's eyes.

"You know I can't. My mom will go crazy if I'm not home," Aria traced her fingers along the dark blue fabric covering his perfectly sculpted torso, making him laugh slightly. "_But,_ I will stop by tomorrow. I can't last a whole Christmas Eve without seeing my amazing and annoyingly secretive boyfriend now, can I?"

Ezra raised a hand to her face and cupped her pale cheek."You'll soon see why I can't tell you what your present is. You're going to love it, I promise you."

"Hmm..." She said as she kissed him and rose up from the bed. "I'll be round at about 11."

"Okay...Are you sure you want to drive here all by yourself? I could pick you up near your house if need be, you know that."

"I'll be fine, the snow isn't that bad," Aria pulled Ezra off the bed, leading him to the door. She smiled at the way his arms wrapped so perfectly around her waist, his hands caressing her thin hips through the thermal sweater she was wearing. "I love you."

"I love you too," they kissed once more before Aria left the apartment, her feet making an audible crunching sound against the white sidewalk.

Alone in the apartment, Ezra sauntered over to his laptop that was lying on the desk. He moved the mouse slightly to display his new desktop picture: a beautiful California beach where, hopefully, he and Aria would be lounging in less than a week. It was the Christmas present that he had been hiding for weeks, refusing to spill even the tiniest of details. He glanced at the time; it was gone past 10pm. As the laptop shut down, leaving a small bright light shining in the room, he walked sleepily over to his bed, put on his pyjamas, and fell asleep to the almost silent noise of snowflakes hitting the nearby window.

He uncharacteristically awoke just over 12 hours later, shivering. After mustering the energy to get out of the bed, he made his way to the bathroom in need of a warm shower to heat his raw body. On winter mornings like this, he loved the feel of water hitting his body. It felt soothing, like each and every limb was being heated at the very touch of water.

After returning from his shower, he got dressed. However, he was soon prohibited by the shrill ringing of his mobile phone from the couch. Remembering that Aria should have arrived, he picked it up, barely noticing the fact that it was from an unknown number.

"Hey, Aria! Where are you?" He said through chattering teeth.

"Mr Fitz, it's Spencer," came a hushed reply_. What is Spencer Hastings doing phoning me? _He thought. _Thinking of it, how did she even get my number_? "I-We need you to come to the hospital."

"What are you talking about, Spencer? Why do you have my number?"

"Aria gave it me just in case. Just come here as quickly as you can, please...she's deteriorating quickly."

"What? Please tell me you're not talking about-" the line suddenly went dead, cutting him off mid-sentence, "Aria."

Hurrying into his clothes for the day, his mind was swimming with anxiety and fear for the person he loved. He wondered what had happened; she must have been on her way to his apartment when something had happened to Aria. Was it a road accident? Did she get attacked? The answers to these questions he didn't know.

After the seemingly long drive from the apartment, he entered the brightly-lit hospital to be met by Spencer.

"Mr Fitz, thank god you're here! Listen-"

"Where is she?" His face was panic-stricken and his eyes wide with alarm.

"She's just down the corridor. Look," she moved slightly, blocking him from going down the corridor behind her, "she's not good. Apparently she was in her car and it skidded on ice."

He breathed deeply, trying to hold back the tears. "How bad is it?"

"She's broken some ribs and fractured her skull. They operated on her already; she's still in a coma."

"I have to go and see her, Spencer."

"Ezra, I mean, uh, Mr Fitz; Ella and Byron are with her. You can't see her."

"I don't care, I can't _not_ see her."

"Just stay here for a while, okay? I'll get them out of there so you can see her. Just wait." She abruptly turned and walked down the hallway, turning into a room halfway down. Even in times like these, she was calm and collected something he admired.

Ezra turned, sat on one of the metal chairs and rested his head in his hands. Broken ribs and a fractured skull; how was he going to live with himself? Although she had been adamant to drive herself to Ezra's, he felt that he should have insisted. Now the love of his life was fading away from him, and it was entirely his fault.

"Psst!" Came a whisper. His head shot up to see that Spencer had returned. "Come on." Her eyes showed sympathy as she led him down the corridor and stopped outside Aria's room. "She's in there."

"Thank you, Spencer. I really mean it."

He took a step into the room and gasped at the sight before him. The room was bland with a white floor, pale blue walls, and a white ceiling. But the thing that made his eyes water and his lip shake was the sight of his girlfriend lying silently on the hospital bed. She looked peaceful, so content that he would assume she was sleeping was it not for the pipes and bandages all over her body.

"Aria," he mouthed as he took slow steps to her bedside. There was a chair, exactly the same as dispersed in the waiting room, sitting there empty. He sat and took Aria's perfect hand in his. "Baby, wake up please. I need to know that you can hear me, please." But to his dismay, there was no answer and no movement from the small body on the bed.

He had been sat there just looking and talking to Aria for less than half an hour when the door suddenly opened.

"Ezra, What are you doing here?" Ezra turned to the face of Byron, whose face was tear-stained.

"Byron! This is not what it looks like," he looked down at their hands that were intertwined just as Byron registered what was happening. "Okay, maybe it is...but I'm not any type of paedophile, I'm in love."

He laughed in reply, "what? You're kidding right?"

"No, I'm not."

"So you're saying that you and Aria have been together? You and your student? Her and her _teacher_?"

"Byron, listen to me please. It's not as bad as you think, honestly. This is not just some perverted mistake, I promise you."

"I don't care about your empty promises, Ezra. I thought you were a friend."

"I am. It just so happens that I'm a boyfriend too; of your daughter."

"Get out!"

"No, no, just hear me out, okay?" Ezra stood, hating having to let go of Aria's hand for a second, "I love her, Byron. I love your daughter so much; she's the best thing that has ever happened to me."

"What are you talking about? Are you saying that this has been a recurring thing?"

"If you mean our relationship, then yes. We've been together since labour day."

The air was silent for a while as the two men stood pensive. "Look," Byron said, "I know full well that I am in no position to criticize you, no doubt you know what our family has been through recently, but what you and Aria have is wrong. Meredith and I were wrong too, I know that. I regret ever meeting her, so just pretend that, if nothing else, I am doing you a favour here. Go, Ezra."

The tone of Byron's voice was so final that the young man turned to take one more look at his love, lying unaware of what was happening. _It's probably for the best, _he thought_, maybe she will wake up and forget she ever knew me_. He leant down and pressed a soft kiss into her hair, savouring how it felt to touch her one last time, before leaving the room.

Once he was out of the building, he couldn't take it anymore. His legs buckled under him and he slid down onto the hard, damp concrete beneath him. He had known that telling her parents would be a hard task, but it hit him in that moment that he had given up. In that little white room, he had left her alone, all because he was too scared to fight harder.

Furious with himself for being weak and spineless, tears started to roll down his cheeks and onto the collar of his polo shirt. The more he tried to compose himself, the more frequent the sobs came. He was a broken man. Aria was the glue that kept him together; without her beside him, he was nothing.

Time passed quickly, and Ezra started to notice the sky becoming a dark shade of blueish grey. Slowly he pushed himself up from the pavement and walked aimlessly through the streets; he didn't care where his feet were taking him. At that moment, he could get ran over by a bus and still not care, because Aria was hurt. Aria was fading away. His Aria, the girl he loved to the moon and back, was in a coma, all because of him.

He turned onto Aria's street subconsciously. Whenever he missed her or was agitated, he always walked past her house. Somehow it felt like a piece of her was radiating from within the building, like he felt calmer and secure just breathing the same air as her. However, this time it didn't work. His fears weren't abolished and his worries weren't put to sleep. For hours and hours he just put foot after foot on the hard sidewalk, it was the only thing in his world that he had control over.

Every so often, he unintentionally caught a glimpse into one of the lit windows of the houses he passed. Everyone he saw, there were people laughing, joking, kissing, _smiling_. That was unbearable for him to see. He knew that it was mean of him, but he couldn't help but wish they felt the same pain as him. Still mentally unaware of his surroundings, he put his head towards the ground and carried on walking. His destination was Snooker's bar, the place he knew that his best friend, Hardy, would be sat. It was a near tradition that every Christmas eve, the two men would sit in a bar- a different one each year- and have a man-to-man talk. This year had been different though, this year Hardy was alone after Ezra had decided to spend the night with Aria. Of course, that had been soon postponed by the tragic events.

Walking up to the old bar, he spotted his friend at a table nearby with a girl whom Ezra had never seen before. He ordered a scotch and went over to the table.

"Hardy."

His head shot up and his eyes widened at the sight of his broken best friend. "Ezra, man, what's up?"

Clearly not used to being ignored, the blonde bombshell slinked away from the table. "I need your help, Hardy...I don't know what to do."

God-knows how many shots and a bucket full of tears later, Ezra woke up on his couch, in his own apartment. With heavy limbs, he rose from the warm leather and went to make himself a coffee.

"How're you feeling?" Hardy appeared from the bathroom, fully dressed.

"Numb; what're you doing here?"

"Making sure you don't kill yourself. Or someone else for that matter. You should have heard the suicidal things you were saying last night...not cool, bro."

"Whoa, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I see how much you love her," he smiled, "even if Aria's dad doesn't."

Ezra groaned in reply, "don't even talk about that man to me...I need to go and see Aria again. Properly this time."

"Well, I was thinking: when Aria wakes up- if she hasn't already- she doesn't want to be faced with a ton of questions and allegations, right?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"You, my friend, are going to visit Aria today. _But,_ first you're going to see her folks. You're going to explain how much you love her, want to make her happy, blah blah blah, then when you see Aria you can tell her that everything is sorted out and she doesn't need to worry about a thing."

"Hey, wait a sec. You're basically throwing me to the sharks here!"

"Trust me, Ezra; everything is going to be fine." 

Not long after, Ezra stood on the doorstep to the Montgomery household alone. _Come on, Ezra,_ he thought, _don't be such a wuss_. He knocked on the door, taking a deep breath.

It opened, showing Ella Montgomery in her coat and shoes. "Ezra...Byron told me about yesterday. I agree with what he said, so don't try to pull a fast one on me. Now excuse me, I'm going to see my injured daughter."

"Ella, let me explain. _Please._" He stood in anticipation as she thought for a moment and opened the door wide for Ezra to enter. "Thank you. I just want to say that what Aria and I have is real. You might think it looks wrong, but it has always felt right, for the both of us. You can say what you like, but I want to clarify something: I'm in love with Aria. Even if you say that I can't see her, or that you're sending her away to some fishing village in Guam, I will find a way to see her." Seeing the way that Ella's eyes softened, he continued, "I promise, I will never hurt her. You have my word; I will protect her with my life."

"Ezra, you really feel like this?"

"Yes, one hundred percent." Ezra smiled, he could see a tear starting to form at Ella's tear duct.

"Well then, despite my previous views, I no longer see any reason to keep you away from her. Do you want to see her? I can take you."

"That would be good." The two adults made their way out of the house, their coats pulled tightly around them. "Ella?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. It's Christmas, after all. If you can't be understanding at Christmas, when can you be?" Ella started the car's engine and turned down the next street with a smile on her face.

"Aria? It's Ezra," he leant over her bed, whispering softly into her ear. "I'm right here." The doctors had told him that she was asleep, after having woken up from the coma that morning. Sleepily, her eyelids fluttered.

"Ezra? It- It's you?"

"It's me," he laughed lightly.

"Why are you here? My parents; they'll see you!"

"Shh... there's nothing to worry about. They know about us, everything's okay. Now, how're you feeling?"

"Numb," he smiled at the memories from earlier that day, when the world seemed a much more sad and horrible place. Now, everything was good. "My head hurts."

"I'm so sorry, Aria."

"Sorry for what?"

"For letting this happen to you. I should never have let you drive yourself to the apartment in the ice. I'm just glad you're okay."

"That's the thing; I am okay. Well, besides the constant throbbing in my head, and the pain in my ribs, but none of that matters."

"None of it matters? Aria, of course it matters!"

"Whoa, wait a second. Why are we talking about this? It's Christmas day, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Then for Christ's sake, just stop worrying!"

Doing as his wonderful girlfriend said, Ezra leant down and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose, causing her to giggle in a way that made him smile like a fool.

Christmas had been eventful, it had been tragic, and it had drawn tears from the person anyone least expected it from. However, Aria and Ezra were together and in the end, true love conquered all.

**Soooo, what did you think? I've been writing this for a while (I did the beginning bit over a month ago), so please tell me what you thought of it!  
>Also, I didn't have any beta readers on the majority of this, so it definitely isn't as good as it could be.<br>Anyway, I hope you found it worth reading!  
>Please review, I'd love to hear what you thought :]<strong>

**xo, Bethany.**


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